Urenio Watch Watch: Cities

WEF Report: Harnessing Public-Private Cooperation to Deliver the New Urban Agenda

This report reveals the evolution of the urbanization dynamics and the ways in which they have evolved over time. Starting from Habitat I in 1976 and moving on up until Habitat III in Quito in 2016, there has been an essential shift in urban agenda setting, towards urban sustainable development, for providing targets and strategic plans to help cities achieve urban growth.

The three guiding principles characterizing the New Urban Agenda point out on: i) leaving no one behind, by ending poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including the eradication of extreme poverty; ii) ensuring sustainable and inclusive urban economies and opportunities for all; and iii) ensuring environmental sustainability.

Some of the most important components of the New Urban Agenda incorporate aspects of urban rules and regulations, urban planning and design and municipal finance. Moreover, the role of private sector in strengthening the capabilities of cities is recognized through the delivery of urban infrastructure and services.

The private sector contribution is increasingly required for all aspects of the urban value chain, including policy-making, planning, design, implementation, operation and maintenance, and monitoring, as well as for the financing of urban services delivery.

Considering urbanization as a global mega trend, urban infrastructure might not be able to grow in tandem with development, making it difficult for city authorities to deliver an adequate standard of living and meet modern-day expectations. According to the report, a co-operation between public and private sector should be achieved, fostering the necessary synergies with academia, NGOs/civil society, citizens and especially the private sector. All of them together form a novel penta-helix model that can bring about the necessary change.

The future of urban development and services will be shaped by creating transformation agendas underpinned by the effective convergence of the targets and outcomes of the Habitat III New Urban Agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals, COP 21, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda 2015. Cities can benefit from multiple synergies and overlaps that exist between these global frameworks.

You can read the full WEF report here.